The often forgotten role of Catholic sisters is told in experiences deeply rooted in self-realization and feminist methodology. In this collection of thirteen essays the contributors illuminate the little known world of a very creative and committed community of women—their aspirations, their values, their mission. An often neglected part of feminist research, this type of sisterly collaboration affirms the seminal paradigms in women's work and writing. These essays deal with many of the same issues of power, economic autonomy, friendship, spirituality, socialization, and professional commitment encountered in other feminist endeavors. Building Sisterhood gives the reader insight into the rigorous training involved in becoming a nun, including the complex relationships between the Monroe community, other IHM sites, and within the intricate church hierarchy. Feminist historian Margaret Susan Thompson places the essays within a historical context and provides detailed background for those unfamiliar with the life, duty, and experience of Catholic sisters. This book will make a unique contribution to feminist scholarship, religious studies, and women's history
In the 2004 Madeleva Lecture, Mary Ann Hinsdale uses the lens of her own life experience to tell the story of how visionary and prophetic women set in motion the important institutional structures that have allowed women to shape Catholic theology in North America over the past fifty years. She pays particular attention to issues and problems facing women theologians in the Catholic Church today, such as the implications of the changing demographics of women theologians; women's impact on the "theological establishment"; the reception of feminism and feminist theology by the hierarchy; and the unmet intercultural challenges posed by those "on the margins," as well as women theologians' response to them. Coming at the beginning of a new papacy, Hinsdale's compelling narrative is especially timely for a consideration of the future of women in the Catholic Church."--BOOK JACKET.
The closing of local mines and factories collapsed the economic and social structure of Ivanhoe, Virginia, a small, rural town once considered a dying community "on the rough side of the mountain." Documenting the creative survival techniques developed by Ivanhoe citizens in the aftermath, It Comes from the People tells how this community organized to revitalize the town and demand participation in its future. Photos, interviews, stories, songs, poems, and scenes from a local theater production tell how this process of rebuilding gradually uncovered the community's own local theology and a growing consciousness of cultural and religious values. A significant aspect of this social transformation in Ivanhoe, as in many rural areas, was the emergence of women as leaders, educators, and organizers, developing new approaches to revive the economy and the people simultaneously. This book is unusually open about the difficult process faced by outside researchers working with community members to describe community life. It discusses the inherent dilemmas frankly and presents a model for those who engage in community studies and ethnographic research. Author note: Mary Ann Hinsdale is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Boston College. Helen M. Lewis is Interim Director of the Appalachian Center at Berea College in Kentucky. S. Maxine Waller is President of the Ivanhoe Civic League and directs community-based student volunteer programs in Virginia.
Henriette Delille was born into a nineteenth-century American society that condoned the attitude that women of color existed for white male use whether they were enslaved or free. Repudiating prevailing societal norms and customs, Delille founded a religious congregation, the Sisters of the Holy Family, for free women of color, and thereby asserted black women as fully capable of chastity and of possessing, choosing, and disposing of themselves and their own bodies. Delille's vision challenged commonly held readings of those bodies; contravened slavery's vicious stereotypes of black women as impious, promiscuous, and lewd; and constructed an alternative to Louisiana's system of plaçage, or concubinage between a white man and a free black woman. Drawing on her own research as well as a range of historical and theological resources, Shawn Copeland paints a compelling portrait of an intrepid woman who is being considered for elevation to sainthood in the Catholic Church"--
Patterns of migration for the purpose of religious mission are an unexamined dimension of the immigration narrative. Catholic sisters from many countries around the world come to the United States to minister and to study. Sociologists from Trinity Washington University and CARA at Georgetown University combined forces to document and understand this contemporary and historical phenomenon. Together, they located more than 4,000 "international sisters" who are currently in the United States for formation, studies, or ministry, from 83 countries spread over six continents. Through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, they heard the stories of these sisters and learned of their joys and satisfactions as well as their struggles and challenges. This book examines the experience of these sisters in depth and offers valuable suggestions for religious institutes, Catholic dioceses and parishes, and others who benefit from their contributions. More broadly, this book also raises awareness of immigration issues at a time of great contention in the public policy debate in the United States. Illustrated with instructive graphics and tables, it is an accessible and inviting resource for academics and the media, as well as bishops, and leaders of Catholic health care, social service, education, pastoral, and philanthropic institutions.
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